Wire fabric.



0. R. HUNT.

WIRE FABRIC.

APPLICATION FILED 001231. 1901.

Patented 1390;.22, 1908. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

O. R.- HUNT.

WLRE PABRIG.

A APPLIGATIGN FILED 00T. 31, 1907.v BGG. 22

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Xga/Jmfr.

n 026%@ f1/mf Y (jh M and my pnmaryiobject WIREIFABRIQ Toa/,ZZ whom it 'may' concern:

Be it known that'l, ',ZELLO R. HUNT, Aacitizen of the United States,` residing at Racine, in the county. of Racine and State ofA Wisconsin, have invented a new and useful provement lin Wire Fabrics, of which the following is aspe'cification.

l i y particularly to wirefabrics of 'a`4 character now commonly eIn-. ployed formattresses, beds, couches, etc.;

My inventionelates n which can be manufacturedat a moderate to the action of a cost, and which'upossessesa high degree of` resiliency throughout its structure,lenabling Vit to yieldv to accommodate itself tothe person." A further'obj'ectis to provide ia fabric, the design' of which may be varied-greatly with but little `eXtra expense.- l

The invention is illustrated in the accom panying drawings, in which- Figure l' represents a broken plan view of a wire-mattress constructed in accordance .with my invention; Fig. 2a broken plan lview showing a portion of the fabric under f l tension and illustrating the resiliency of the fabric; Fig. 3, `a viewv showing one of thewiresf employed after the same hasbeen subjected press which provides it withv a series of offsets or half eyes Fig. 4, a perspective view showing one of the longitudinal strands of-the vfabric produced by bending the wire shown in Fig. 3 on itself and providing the extremities of the folded wire with hooks Fig. 5, a broken perspective view illustrating the facility with which the fabric will fold,-as for instance in sofa-bed construction; Figs. 5a modifications of the .transverse links employed; Fig. 6, a broken plan view illustrating a modification of my invention roviding for a variation in the design of tile fabric; Fig. 7 a broken plan .view showing a still further modification in another design; and Fig. 8, a broken plan view showing a third modification in another design.

Referring to Figs. l to 5 inclusive, A represents a frame; and B my-inproved fabric.

The fabric B comprises longitudinal strands Z1 and transverse links lil-connected with said strands. Each strand comprises two wires b2, b3, provided, respectively, with offsets or half eyes b4, b5 adapted to receive the hooks be of the transverse links b1. The offsets or half eyes b4 and b5 are disposed adjacent to f Specification of `Letters Patent. 'A Apliiativmi area october si, 1907;.

.as to form the eyes b4 -of th is l to Iprovide fabric '1.

ing that the wires 'hemd'. The. ma'nnf ill Which the Wiles and 5b,'views showing Unirse srnrns .g Paires-rr ornon ozEL'LoR. HUNT, or RACINE, wisconsin, Assronon To THE snnioxs irre. wrsooNsrnwA iconronarion oF wisconsin i Patented Dee.v

stammenden. f

l.each other so as to form av completefeye.

preferred manner of formingastrand` 1s action of a?. press so The to subject a wire to the K and b5 on thesarne'-l side e wire, as indicated in'Fig. 3, tothen bend theI Wire upon itselfat its center,..`st11king the wire in the direction indi'catedfby the arrow in Fig. V3, and finally to formt-he'.hooks b7 upon the extremities'fof, the'foldedsivme, as shown in Fig. 4.

The hooks 57 serve to engagethe' coiled spring 'at one. endv of the fabric, and the loop bs. formed. bybending the wire serves' as la means of engagement withthe-coiled-'spring vat the other end ofsthe strand. In applying the links b1 to connect the strands, alternate offsets .b4 arev causedto lie above thec'ompanion offsets b5, and the remaining alternate offsets 'b4 are caused to'lie beneath the come panion offsets b2.

liz-'and Z13 cross each other 1n a vertical direction between each p airhof eyes of the strand. This provides for resiliency Uthroughout the fabric and enablesfthe' abric at `any point Jto-adjust itself 'the person, thus "greatly enhancing thefctjmfortableiiess of the --fabric.' At' "fthe sa-me time, theV fabric possesses all necessary strength, and vwill valways resumes i t`s mal condition -when the pressu'reil s r; and b3 of a given strand are flexed over each other when pressure is applied is illustrated in Fig. 2. It will be understood that ordinarily a coiled spring is employed to connect each end of each strandy with the mattress frame` I Fig. 5 represents the facility with which one portion of the fabric may be bent at right angles to another portion, as where a portion of the fabric is connected with the upright back frame of a sofa-bed and another This iseouivalen-t tostat portion is connected with the seat-frame of a sofa-bed. The mattress may befolded about any longitudinal strand, and it follows that the mattress may be rolled upon itself for convenience in shipping or handling.

ln the construction illustrated in Fig. 5,

1 represents a fabric constructed in accordance with my appearance changed. ln this construction, the eyes b9 of each strand are staggered with relation to the eyes b9 of theV adjacent strand, and links Z210 which extend diagonally or obliquely are employed to connect the li invention with the 'design or eyes, the links b1 being ordinarily longer than the links b1 of the fabric B.

. l In the construction illustrated in Fig. 7,

B represents a fabric constructedin accordance With my invention. In this construction, links b are arranged in a series of diag onal rows and employed to connect 'the eyes of the strands. This arrangement affords still another design.

In the construction illustrated in Fig "8 B represents a fabric constructed in accordance with cross each other Aare employed to connect the eyes, giving the a pearance of super-g posed zig-zag transverse y extendingrows of connectin links. f

` It will ev understood that in each of the "constructions described, the desired resili .ency is obtained; and, it is to be observed,

i the same press and dies may be employed for `a press to enable the eyes to. be produced as` producing the offsets or eyes in the strandsl of the fabric, the gage being adjusted according to requirement. number of Wires are simultaneously fed into shown in Fig. 3; and, while the wires are -still in the holder, they are subjected to the action of a second ress to fold them to the condition shown in ig. 4.

I t is ,obvious that my invention requires the use of Wire of some rigidity and of con sidcrable s ringiness or resiliency. A fabric constructed in accordance with the present invention possesses much greater resilience than any fabric in which the longitudi nal strands are formed of a series of links as wellas the transverse strands. Moreover, there is some economy in the use of Wire, according tofthis description.

In the construction illustrated in Fig.

my invention. In this construction, the eyes of the strands are arranged in transverse rows, and diagonal links b1z which Ordinarily, a large 5, B4L represents a fabric of the general construction described above. In this construction, the links b1 are replaced by coilspring links 613 which lend' a'. still greater resiliency tothe fabric. This feature is desirable in those cases Where the item of expenseneed not be considered, and Wherel a variation in the deslgn 1s desired.

In the construction illustrated in Fig. 5b, B5 represents a fabric of the same general construction, inv which the links b1 ar replaced by chan=links 6H. f

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only, and no undue limitation is to be understood therefrom.

What I regardy as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1`. A fabric comprising j a l.plurality lof strands, each strand composed of two substantially straight adjacent resilient wiresv with oifsets therein lying adjacent to each otherandforniing eyes, the Wires of each strand crossing each other between-seyes, and links joining said eyes and connecting the strands together, whereby the strand- Wires will be subject 'to a flexing action upon .each other, for the purpose set forth.

2. A fabric comprising a plurality of 

